waterfem19

Hi

I have just moved to Calgary for a secondment. However my husband is very keen to come and and possible move to Canada/Calgary permanently.

He thinks we will have a better quality of life than back in the UK, i.e. living costs cheaper, more outdoors things to do which we like etc.

However, been here only a few weeks and I am really not convinced that living costs are cheaper, can anyone who has been here longer confirm?

Also if we did decide to buy a house we would need to be easy commute to downtown and having a look at house prices they really don't seem much cheaper than back home. And I am from the South East not London but Hampshire. Again can anyone else tell me a typical price of a house in a nice area, easy to get to down town? Also how easy would it be to get a mortgage bearing in mind we have no past credit history? Also are mortgages more expensive.

Sorry for all these questions but there I things I want to determine before he considers transfering to Calgary also.

Getting There

Hi,

First of all, www.Realtor.ca will provide you access to summaries of many properties currently on the market. There is probably not enough information in your post to give a considered answer. There are so many types, style, sizes of home and most communities might be considered nice depending on your tastes.

As a Realtor, in my view, for the same money as you might spend on a home in the South East of the UK (we moved here from St Albans), you might, in a great many communities in Calgary (and not ones you definitely wouldn't want to live in), buy a home at least twice the size, or expressed another way, buy the same size house for maybe half the price.

Mortgages are not entirely dependent on having an established good credit history here (although, clearly, that is helpful). Depending on the nature of your employment, it might be possible to secure a mortgage reasonably quickly (within a few months and sometimes rather sooner). If you have a sufficient deposit, it may be possible to get a mortgage immediately. There are deliberately lots of mights and maybes in this paragraph...a conversation with a mortgage expert would quickly help to shed light on your particular set of circumstances.

Mortgage rates in Canada at present are near historic lows and from what I understand of interest rates in the UK at present, they are broadly comparable.

You are absolutely right to consider as many angles as possible. There are several Realtors on this forum that, like me, would be delighted to discuss this with you in more detail offline and there are over 5,000 licensed Realtors in Calgary and surrounds, so you have plenty of us to choose from.

Anyway, if you would want to chat further, drop me a PM or email (you can find an address for me on my website which you can link to in the signature line below).

Kind regards,

Eamonn.
PS: I would agree that generally speaking, living costs are not appreciably less here in Calgary.

Chookie

Well if it is any help, we live in Country Hills in the NW just off Center Street/Harvest Hills Boulevard. Our house cost $370K last year for a 1500 sq foot house give or take some. Commuting downtown is easy peasy from this area - the 301 BRT bus stops a couple of blocks away on Harvest Hills Boulevard and is a quick all-beit crowded busride downtown. And there is also the 142 bus that stops at the end of our road and also goes downtown, plus several other buses that go part way and connect with a second bus to take you the rest of the way.

MrChookie works in the downtown core, and takes the bus every day because it is quicker and cheaper than driving and paying for parking... Most days he manages to time it so that he can get the 142 - walks to the end of our road, picks up the bus, gets it downtown, gets off the bus, walks across the road and into his office building... and people wonder why we chose to live here!

I can't really help you with how easy it is to get a mortgage with no credit history as we had been here 2 years before we decided to buy, but we had no problems getting one at that point.

As for better quality of life - I would say that we do have that... life is certainly better than the one that we had living in the East Midlands.

Posidrive

I have always been a little overly relaxed with regard to monitoring the mortgage rates and we have now sold up and returned to the UK, but as I recall the mortgage rates are currently typically just below 3%. When we received the offer on our house the only condition was that the buyers could get finanace at or below 3%, so this can't be far out.

The current really crappy exchange rate will make houses appear expensive. Certainly compared to when the exchange rate was 2.35 just over 4 years ago. That's just the luck of the draw with timing. A fairer comparison would perhaps be the percentage of your income that you pay to finance the house. You will also find that you will get much more for your money in terms of size of the house and goodies such as hardwood flooring, granite worktops, etc. Despite the size of Canada, don't expect a good sized garden. The long Winters tend to put Calgarians off gardening . The only downside of Canadian houses is that they are rather flimsy. Too much thin dry wall, so expect to repair dents every time you touch the walls

We have never been ones for shopping around for the best prices (not lazy, just too much time to spend on other things ). We found supermarket pricing to be eye wateringly expensive even compared to the South East of the UK. It costs a lot to transport food to Calgary, hence premium prices compared to Vancouver and Toronto. Supermarkets also spray water on their fruit and vegatables to ensure that it rots quicker so you have to buy more

Auld Yin

Supermarkets also spray water on their fruit and vegatables to ensure that it rots quicker so you have to buy more

On what do you base what I believe is a spurious claim?

Steve_P

You must touch your walls a lot harder than we do. We've been in our house for 22 years and I can count on one hand the number of times we have had to repair drywall and that's with the grand-kids running around with toys and such.

As for you comment regard supermarkets speeding up a rotting process what a load of bullshit.

I know you didn't like it here in Canada but really.

Simon Legree

I agree. A load of utter beau lochs.

Posidrive

Large dogs + drywall is not a good combination. A 22 year old house is probably also better built with more solid materials that newer homes. Newer homes built within the last 3 years in Calgary often also have comparitively poor construction standards as builders tried to balance the escalating construction/materials costs against agreed construction prices. I won't even begin to mention the number of cowboy trades people praying on this market.

The comment about the water on the the fruit and veg was meant tongue in cheek. They probably spray water on it to make it look more attractive and prevent it from drying out in the dry Albertan air but a side effect is that it does make it rot/go mouldy faster. See the first tip and warning here http://www.ehow.com/how_2122391_stor...rigerator.html

I adored living in canada and only returned to the UK because my family couldn't cope with migrain headaches caused by the Chinooks laying them up for days at a time

Posidrive

See reply to the executioner

Posidrive

I see that you don't live in Calgary, so (a) how do you know how the houses are built by the cowboys there and (b) don't understand tongue in cheek comments with smilies. They may have a good reason for doing it ie to keep it from drying out in the Calgary desert, but the fruit and veg does rot and go mouldy faster because of it which given the price compared to the UK was a tad on the irritating side

SirTainly

This is an old green grocer's trick (my uncle used to work as one), however the water is not to cause the goods to rot, it's actually to make them look bigger/fresher. Vegetables being mostly water tend to lose water once picked, so giving them a spray will cause them to swell as they absorb the moisture, and hence look more appealing. Happens in the UK too, especially with prepacked salad, (I used to work in a prepacked salad factory).

Almost Canadian

The quality of drywall internal wallls in Canada is likely to match the same form of construction used in new homes in England.

Posidrive

But at least new homes in Engaland generally at least have a set of solid external walls. But I digress. The point was that part of the reason that homes can be cheaper in Calgary or Canada in general is that although the construction techniques are appropriate for the climate and appear to work well, you do get a less solidly built house for your money. Proper tiles roofs are the xception rather than the rules because they cost a lot more than shingles and I have yet to see a Calgary home with a proper solid brick shell which would be ruinously expensive.

Alan2005

I'm going to anecdotally back this up. My local supermarket does this, it's really annoying and I wish they'd stop doing it. The veg doesn't last very long and has to be used within a couple of days. Not really very impressed with the produce from Canadian supermarkets, at least in Vancouver - you have to be really picky with it.

jimf

Where I work there are a few from the UK have have got mortgages easily enough. Some are on TWPs and some still have a house in the UK which they rent out. It never sounded like it had been a big issue when it cropped up in conversation.

My impression is living costs are much of muchness with some things cheaper some more expensive. Food seems to be more expensive in Calgary anyway but it does depend on where you go. The COOP here is reasonably upmarket (although no Waitrose) and priced accordingly whereas Canadian Superstore is cheaper. Wine/beer is much more expensive.